Credit card collect call system and method

ABSTRACT

A method of providing collect call service includes receiving a request for a collect call from a calling party ( 18 ). A selected number to call is received. A call is placed to a receiving party ( 20 ). Agreeability of the receiving party ( 20 ) to accept the credit card billing for the collect call is determined. The calling party ( 18 ) is connected to the receiving party ( 20 ) in response to the acceptance.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to telecommunication systems andnetworks. More particularly, the present invention relates to a systemand method of providing collect call service.

Industry has provided several prepaid and direct billing options for theperformance of a collect call. Collect calls may be performed at mostlocations where phone service is provided. Collect calls may beperformed at pay phone, business, and residence locations, as well aswithin inmate facilities.

In general, collect calls are performed by a party dialing for anoperator or a platform, this is sometimes referred to as an “automatedoperator”, and requesting for collect call service to an intended orspecified phone number. The calling party typically provides theoperator with some personal information, such as the calling party'sname. The operator then dials the specified phone number and requests acalled or receiving party whether they are willing to accept charges fora collect call from the calling party. When the receiving party acceptsthe charges, the operator then proceeds to connect and bill the call tothe party normally billed and associated with the specified phonenumber.

The above-stated process can be annoying or troublesome to both thecalling party and the receiving party. For example, the calling partymay be in a state of emergency and as such may call a specified numberto request aid. In so doing, the calling party may determine that thereceiving party or party answering the call is unable to and does nothave the authority to accept the charges for the collect call or thatthe service carriers are prohibited from placing a call to the specifiedor called number. As a result, the calling party may experience anextended delay in aid or may be undesirably without aid.

Traditionally, in order for an inmate to perform a collect call to areceiving party that cannot accept collect calls, the receiving partymust pre-setup a valid prepaid account with a service provider. Manylocal carriers have requested selective blocking of calls from certainlocations, such as inmate facilities. The prepaid account is setup andassociated with one or more approved called party numbers and aids inassuring that a collect call is paid for in full. Once the prepaidaccount is setup, the inmate may attempt to call the receiving party andhave the cost of the collect call paid using funds within the prepaidaccount. Collect calls are allowed until such time when the funds in theprepaid account have depleted.

Generally, when a call is blocked, a receiving party is notified of theinability to receive a collect call from an inmate facility. Thereceiving party may receive the collect call when arrangements are madefor other payment options. One such payment option is a prepaid account.The receiving party is instructed to call the service center to setup apre-paid account to allow the reception of calls from the inmatefacility. The receiving party may then call the service center and beinstructed as to the process steps to follow to fund a prepaid account.This process is long. The duration of time between when a receivingparty is informed of an attempted collect call and when that receivingparty is actually able to receive a collect call can be up to 24 hours.

Thus, there exists a need for an improved system and method of providingcollect calls in general and especially to inmates within an inmatefacility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this invention reference should nowbe had to the embodiments illustrated in greater detail in theaccompanying figures and described below by way of examples of theinvention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagrammatic view of a telecommunication systemproviding collect call service in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagrammatic view of an inmate telecommunicationsystem providing collect call service from an inmate within an inmatefacility in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a logic flow diagram illustrating a method of providingcollect call service in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present invention is described with respect to a system andmethod of providing collect call service, the following apparatus iscapable of being adapted for various purposes and applied in variousapplications.

In the following description, various operating parameters andcomponents are described for one constructed embodiment. These specificparameters and components are included as examples and are not meant tobe limiting.

Also, in the following description a communication site may refer to anytelecommunication site known in the art. A communication site may, forexample, refer to a central office, a terminating office, a callingparty site, a receiving party site, an operator platform, or a lineinformation database platform (LIDB).

The present invention provides a system and method of providing collectcalls. The method includes receiving a request for a collect call from acalling party. A selected number to call is received. A call is placedto a receiving party. Agreeability of the receiving party to accept thecredit card billing for the collect call is determined. The callingparty is connected to the receiving party in response to the acceptance.

The embodiments of the present invention provide several advantages. Onesuch advantage is the provision of accepting a collect call andapproving the credit card billing of that collect call by a receivingparty. In so doing, the present invention provides efficient acceptanceand billing of a collect call.

Another advantage that is provided by an embodiment of the presentinvention is the provision of determining whether a collect call numberis blocked and offering the receiving party credit card billing inresponse to that determination. As such, the stated embodiment assuresthat a call is placed to the receiving party and that the receivingparty has the option of accepting the collect call.

The embodiments of the present invention provide other advantages overprior systems and methods of providing collect calls, which will be bestunderstood by reference to the following description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying figures.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagrammatic view of atelecommunication system 10 providing collect call service in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The system 10includes a central office 12 and a terminating office 14. The centraloffice 12 receives collect call requests from a calling party. Thecentral office 12 routes the collect calls through a switched network 16to the terminating office 14. The switched network 16 may be a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN). The terminating office 14 may thenroute the collect calls to intended or receiving parties upon approvedbilling thereof. The collect calls may be billed to the receivingparties using standard billing methods or may be billed to credit cardaccounts provided by the receiving parties.

The collect call requests are generated from calling party sites, suchas the site 18. The collect calls are received by the receiving partieslocated at receiving party sites, such as the receiving party site 20.Although only one calling party site and one receiving party site areshown, any number of each may be included in the system 10. The callingparty sites 18 and the receiving party sites 20 may be in the form of abusiness, a residence, a pay phone, a commercial facility, a militaryfacility, an inmate facility, or may be in some other site form known inthe art.

The central office 12 and the terminating office 14 may be in the formof a carrier provider, a carrier, a vendor, a competitive local exchangecarrier (CLEC), or some other telecommunication service provider. Acarrier provider may, for example, be MCI® or VERIZON™. A carrier may,for example, be Southern New England Telephone™. Although the system 10is shown as having a single central office and a single terminatingoffice, any number of each may be included within the system.

The central office 12 and terminating office 14 may have centralprocessing units that may be microprocessor-based, such as a computerhaving a central processing unit, memory (RAM and/or ROM), andassociated input and output buses. The processing units may be utilizedto perform various telecommunication service tasks. The centralprocessing units may be application-specific integrated circuits or beformed of other logic devices known in the art. The central processingunits may be in the form of a mainframe, a workstation, or otherprocessing unit known in the art.

The central office 12 is also coupled to an operator platform 22 thatprovides operator services. The operator platform 22 may performprompting services to the receiving parties, credit card validationservices, billing services, or other operator services known in the art.The operator platform 22 may also be microprocessor based and may belocated at several communication sites, such as the central office 12.

The calling party and the receiving party may refer to inanimate oranimate objects. In a standard collect call situation a first individualat a first site may call an operator and request a collect call and asecond individual at a second site may accept billing for that collectcall. There exist several other possible situations, some of which aredescribed below.

A collect call may be requested from and accepted by an inanimateobject, such as a phone or dialing service, a computer, a modem, ananswering machine or service, or by some other automated machine,system, or service known in the art. For example, an individual may callan operator and request a collect call to a receiving party site. Theoperator may call the receiving party site and request acceptance for acollect call. The receiving party at the receiving party site may be ananswering machine, which receives and verifies the calling partyinformation from the operator. The answering machine may than accept thecollect call, provide a credit card number for billing of the collectcall, and record a message from the calling party.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagrammatic view of an inmatetelecommunication system 30 providing collect call service from aninmate within an inmate facility 32 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention is shown. The inmate system 30 includes a centraloffice 34 and a terminating office 36 that are similar to the centraloffice 12 and terminating office 14. The central office 34 is coupled toan inmate platform 38, which is in turn coupled to the inmate facility32. The inmate facility 32 facilitates, monitors, and processes collectcalls from the inmates within the inmate facility 32 to receivingparties at receiving party sites, such as site 39. A network 40, similarto the network 16, is coupled between the central office 34 and theterminating office 36. A line information database platform (LIDB) 42 iscoupled to the network 40 and determines the status of the callednumbers. Although the LIDB 42 is shown, described, and validated withrespect to an inmate scenario, the LIDB 42 may be utilized and validatedin non-inmate scenarios.

The inmate platform 38 receives collect call requests from the inmateswithin the inmate facility 32. The inmate platform 38 determines whetherto validate the collect called numbers. The inmate platform 38 may alsovalidate credit card numbers, as well as perform other services known inthe art. The inmate platform 38 may also be microprocessor based and belocated at various communication sites, such as the inmate facility 32or the central office 34.

The LIDB 42 performs a query to determine the status of the collectcalled number and generates a status signal providing information to theinmate facility 32. The LIDB 42 may also be microprocessor based and belocated at various communication sites. The LIDB 42 may be located atthe central office 34, at the terminating office 36, at the site of theinmate platform 38, or may be located separately, as shown.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a logic flow diagram illustrating a method ofproviding collect call service in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention is shown. In step 100, a calling party requests acollect call. The collect call may be requested from the calling partysite 18 or the inmate facility 32.

The following steps 101–114 are performed with respect to the embodimentof FIG. 1 and steps 105–138 are performed with respect to the embodimentof FIG. 2.

In step 101, the central office 12 receives a collect call number fromthe calling party at the calling party site 18. In step 102, the centraloffice 12 receives a selected number to call or collect call number fromthe calling party and generates a collect call initiation signal havingthe collect call number.

In step 104, the central office 12 places an operator call to thereceiving party, at a receiving party site 20, in response to thecollect call initiation signal. The operator call is routed through thenetwork 16. The central office 12 utilizes operator services from theoperator platform 22 in placing the operator call. The terminatingoffice 14 routes the operator call to the receiving party.

In step 105, upon answer of the operator call, the operator platform 22or the inmate platform 38 prompts the receiving party that a collectcall has been requested to the collect called number from the callingparty. The operator platform 22 or the inmate platform 38 also promptsthe receiving party for collect call options. The receiving party mayaccept the billing and select standard billing or credit card billing.The collect call may be billed to a party normally billed and associatedor not associated with the collect called number. The collect call maybe billed to a party that resides at or has a place of business with anaddress associated or not associated with the collect called number.

In step 106, the operator platform 22 or the inmate platform 38determines whether the receiving party is agreeable to accepting chargesfor the collect call. When charges for the collect call is accepted bythe receiving party step 108 is performed, otherwise step 114 isperformed. In step 108, the receiving party selects the type of billing,as described above.

In step 110, the operator platform 22 or the inmate platform 38determines whether to approve the billing. The operator platform 22 orthe inmate platform 38 may verify billing account status or a creditcard number to assure that the receiving party is of adequate standingand the credit card is valid.

In step 112, when the billing has been approved the central office 12and the terminating office 14 route the collect call. The calling partyis connected or provided a communication link to the receiving party inresponse to the charge acceptance by the receiving party and the billingapproval by the operator platform 22.

In step 114, when the receiving party does not accept charges of thecollect call or results of the billing approval process are negative,the calling party is not connected to the receiving party. The receivingparty may be notified as to the reasons why the results of the billingapproval process are negative.

In step 115, the inmate facility receives a collect call number from thecalling party. In step 116, the inmate platform 38 receives the collectcall number from an inmate and generates an inmate platform query. Instep 118, the inmate platform query is received by the LIDB 42 throughthe central office 34 and the network 40. The LIDB 42 determines statusof the called number and generates a status signal.

In step 120, the inmate platform 38 receives and processes the statussignal. The inmate platform 38 generates a blocking signal in responseto the processing, which includes information regarding suchdetermination. In step 122, when the blocking signal indicates that thecalled number is blocked the inmate platform 38 places an inmateplatform direct call to the receiving party and proceeds to step 124,otherwise the inmate platform 38 places an inmate platform direct callto the receiving party and proceeds to perform step 105.

In step 124, upon answer of the operator call, the inmate platform 38prompts the receiving party that a collect call has been requested tothe collect called number from the calling party. The inmate platform 38also prompts the receiving party for credit card billing.

In step 126, the inmate platform 38 determines whether the receivingparty is agreeable to accepting charges for the collect call. When thecharges for the collect call are accepted by the receiving party step128 is performed, otherwise step 132 is performed.

In step 128, the inmate platform 38 determines whether to approve thebilling. The inmate platform 38 verifies a credit card number, receivedfrom the receiving party, to assure that the receiving party is ofadequate standing and the credit card number is valid.

In step 130, when billing has been approved the central office 34 andthe terminating office 36 route the collect call and connect the callingparty with the receiving party in response to the charge acceptance bythe receiving party and the billing approval by the inmate platform 38.

In step 132, when the receiving party does not accept the billing of thecollect call or results of the billing approval process are negative,the calling party is not connected to the receiving party. The receivingparty may be notified as to the reasons why the results of the billingvalidation are negative. For example, the receiving party that answersthe operator call or the inmate platform call may not reside in thedwelling associated with the called number or may not have the authorityto accept the billing for the collect call. The receiving party maytherefore select not to have the collect call billed to the accountassociated with that dwelling or may select to have the collect callbilled to a credit card account. A similar scenario can occur for aplace of business or other called communication site.

The calling party at anytime in the above described method may benotified as to whether the collect call has been approved or to anyother collect call related information. Also, although the communicationservice tasks described in the above-stated steps are performed by orare associated with particular communication sites, the tasks may beperformed by other communication sites within or external to the system10.

The above-described steps are meant to be illustrative examples and maybe easily modified depending upon the application. The steps may beperformed sequentially, synchronously, simultaneously, or in a differentorder depending upon the application.

The present invention provides an efficient collect call method thataids in assuring that a receiving party has the opportunity to accept acollect call even when selective blocking has been requested from acommunication site of a calling party. The present invention also aidsin assuring payment for a collect call, especially a collect call thatoriginates from an inmate facility.

The above-described apparatus and method, to one skilled in the art, iscapable of being adapted for various applications and systems known inthe art such as non-cylindrical open systems. The above-describedinvention can also be varied without deviating from the true scope ofthe invention.

1. A method of processing a call from an inmate facility, the methodcomprising: receiving a call and a number to call from an inmatefacility at an inmate platform; generating a query from the inmateplatform to an external line information database (LIDB) platform todetermine a blocking status signal for the number to determine ablocking status of a called party; processing the blocking status signaland further comprising: when the status blocking signal indicates anon-blocked condition, transferring control from the inmate platform toan operator services platform and using the operator services platformto prompt the called party to determine whether charges for the collectcall are accepted, to prompt for a billing type for the charges, and toconnect the collect call from the inmate facility to the called partywhen the charges for the collect call are accepted by the called party;and when the blocking status signal indicates a blocked condition, usingthe inmate platform to prompt the called party to determine whethercharges for the collect call are accepted and when the charges areaccepted to further receive third party billing information to providefor payment of the accepted charges and to connect the call from theinmate facility to the called party when the third party billinginformation is validated for payment of the accepted charges.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the third party information includes creditcard information.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the third partyinformation includes pre-paid telephone card information.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the billing type includes standard collect callbilling to the called party telephone bill.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the collect call is billed to a party that is not associatedwith the number.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the charges for thecollect call are not approved and wherein the operator services platformnotifies the called party as to one or more reasons why the results ofthe billing approval process are negative.
 7. The method claim 1,wherein the inmate platform query is received by the LIDB through acentral office facility.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the chargesfor the collect call are not approved because a party that is areceiving party of the call does not have the authority to accept thebilling for the collect call.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thestatus blocking signal indicates a blocked condition in response toselective blocking having been requested by the called party and whereinthe collect call is connected for communication after the called partyprovides validated credit card information in response to receiving thecollect call request from the inmate facility.
 10. A system ofprocessing a call from an inmate facility, the system comprising: aninput to receive a call and a dialed number from an inmate facility; aquery generation element to generate a query from an inmate platform toa line information database (LIDB) platform to determine a blockingstatus signal to determine a blocking status of a called destinationcorresponding to the dialed number; and a processor to process theblocking status signal such that when the status blocking signalindicates a non-blocked condition, control is transferred from theinmate platform to an operator services platform and the operatorservices platform prompts the called destination to determine whethercharges for the collect call are accepted, prompts for a billing typefor the charges, and connects the collect call from the inmate facilityto the called destination when the charges for the collect call areaccepted by the called party, and when the blocking status signalindicates a blocked condition, the inmate platform prompts the calleddestination to determine whether charges for the collect call areaccepted, and when the charges are accepted receives third party billinginformation to provide for payment of the accepted charges and connectsthe call from the inmate facility to the called destination when thethird party billing information is validated for payment of the acceptedcharges.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the third party informationincludes credit card information.
 12. The system of claim 10, whereinthe third party information includes pre-paid telephone cardinformation.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the billing typeincludes standard collect call billing to the called party telephonebill.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the collect call is billed toa party that is not associated with the dialed number.
 15. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the charges for the collect call are not approved andwherein the operator services platform notifies the called destinationas to one or more reasons why the results of the billing approvalprocess are negative.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein the inmateplatform query is sent to the LIDB through a central office facility.17. The system of claim 10, wherein the charges for the collect call arenot approved because a party that is a receiving party of the call doesnot have the authority to accept the billing for the collect call. 18.The system of claim 10, wherein the status blocking signal indicates ablocked condition in response to selective blocking having beenrequested by the called destination and wherein the collect call isconnected for communication after the called destination providesvalidated credit card information in response to receiving a collectcall request from the inmate facility.
 19. The system of claim 10,wherein a credit card is billed for payment of the accepted charges. 20.The system of claim 10, wherein the call is connected over a publictelephony network.